Marked for Samir Mammadov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Zira asked and NK Maribor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Guima
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Renat Ismayilov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Zira training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruan Renato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Zira
Samir Mammadov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Shakhter to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zira and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Eddy Guseynov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Inter lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Araz Medvedev at 20 — 7.80
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Araz Medvedev did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Inter, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to Kapaz this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market31 Aug 2026
Zira paid $69.0K and Inter took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zira have kept their man, and Inter go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Araz Medvedev. 1‑0 against Khazar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Zira offered $620.0K; Inter said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Zira
Ruan Renato and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
Kapaz made Zira work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Martins Júnior was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Ajax have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan move for Stefan Bancu is in the works
Zira have made the call to Astra. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Inter lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.65 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market24 Aug 2026
Zira come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Inter did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
Baris Kahveci hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inter can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Inter have gone to Khazar with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Qarabag have kept their man, and Inter go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Inter
Cəlal Hüseynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 Aug 2026
Cavid Abdullayev scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Gabala, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
$370.0K on the table at Qarabag. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Inter
Cəlal Hüseynov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Inter training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samir Mammadov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad3 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Cəlal Hüseynov
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Inter will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Qarabag: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alan Caruaru and Inter agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Richard Mammadov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.